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Nuclear Energy Conference & Expo (NECX)
September 8–11, 2025
Atlanta, GA|Atlanta Marriott Marquis
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Deep Space: The new frontier of radiation controls
In commercial nuclear power, there has always been a deliberate tension between the regulator and the utility owner. The regulator fundamentally exists to protect the worker, and the utility, to make a profit. It is a win-win balance.
From the U.S. nuclear industry has emerged a brilliantly successful occupational nuclear safety record—largely the result of an ALARA (as low as reasonably achievable) process that has driven exposure rates down to what only a decade ago would have been considered unthinkable. In the U.S. nuclear industry, the system has accomplished an excellent, nearly seamless process that succeeds to the benefit of both employee and utility owner.
Chu-Tien Chen, Shih-Hai Li
Nuclear Technology | Volume 117 | Number 2 | February 1997 | Pages 223-233
Technical Paper | Radioactive Waste Management | doi.org/10.13182/NT97-A35327
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
An analytical solution is developed for the problem of radionuclide transport in a system of planar parallel fractures situated in a porous rock matrix. The flux at the inlet boundary of a fracture is assumed to decrease exponentially with time. The solution considers the following processes: (a) advective transport in the fractures, (b) mechanical dispersion and molecular diffusion along the fractures, (c) molecular diffusion from a fracture to the porous matrix, (d) adsorption onto the fracture wall, (e) adsorption within the porous matrix, and (f) radioactive decay. The solution is based on the Laplace transform method. The general transient solution is in the form of a double integral that is evaluated using composite Gauss-Legendre quadrature. A simpler transient solution that is in the form of a single integral is also presented for the case that assumes negligible longitudinal dispersion along the fractures. A few examples are given to illustrate the effect of various fracture spacings and groundwater velocities, a 1% penetration distance, and the effect of neglecting the longitudinal dispersion in the fractures.